FRENCH GENERAL STAFF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1709, 8 May 1917, Page 4

FRENCH GENERAL STAFF.

APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF. THE HERO OF VERDUN. General Petain, the hero of Verdun, has been appointed Chief of the French General Staff. The appointment is likely to he followed by various strengthening changes at headquarters.

France seeks to enshroud the identity of her generals in some mystery, and it was only when the battle of Verdun had reached its second phase that the public learned that the active command of the Verdun held array had been entrusted to a man who on the eve of the war was about to retire from the army, having reached the rank of

colonel at an age when a military career could not hold out much promise of promotion. Colonel Petain did useful work during the retreat from Charleroi, and was marked out for promotion by General J off re when the Generalissimo was purging the army of elderly incompetents. He very rapidly became brigadier-general. Then, after the brilliant handling of his men during the Artois offensive of May last year, he was appointed lo command the army which General de Castelnau’s new duties in the centre left without a leader. The thrusting powers he displayed in Artois made it quite natural that in selecting a general for the important part of the French offensive in Champagne in September, 1915, the choice should fall upon him. Then General Petain was given the command under General Joffre of the Held defence of Verdun. He is a general with an extraordinary capacity for work, and a master of scientific tactics. He ardently believes that it is among the first duties of a soldier to keep physically Ht, and numberless stories are related of his methods of so doing. He is well liked by his men, who, for instance, during the Champagne lighting when he covered three miles at the double, were able to sec that their chief was able and willing to share their fatigues.

General Petain is of more than average height, well-built, blueeyed, reserved in manner and with a noticeable touch of irony in his voice. He is not only self-possess-ed, but spreads around him an atmosphere of calm confidence. The Paris newspaper, Petit -Journal, gives the following description of him by a well-known politician: —“The general is a resolute man of extraordinary sangfroid. I know him quite well. He was my friend in childhood. He has no political connections, but is a soldier in every sense of the word. Of an extremely independent character, he perhaps speaks a little too freely. While I agree that a leader should give his men an example of courage, perhaps Petain may be reproached with exposiing himself a little too much. He has a rare modesty, and his delight before the war was to go and rest at Cassis, on the shore's of the Meditteranoan. I have heard him say that we are carrying on a war of workshops, and that every heavy shell of which we run short may cost the lives of 20 men.’’ When Marshal Joffre retired from (he post of Commander-in-Chief of the French armies in the field, General Petain was suggested as his successor. Petain, however, was not prepared to accept office without receiving an absolutely free hand in all departments, an undertaking which the Ministry for War was not prepared to make. There were several matters apart from strategy and field tactics in which it was felt that Departmental control was advisable, and General Petain, not being able to give way, the post of commander-in-chief of the armies of the north and north-east (the Balkan campaign being thus especially excepted) was conferred upon General Nivelle, General Petain being temporarily appointed his chief of staff, a post which he cheerfully accepted, and in which he has now been confirmed.